Music in Istanbul Is Intermission for a Protest

The Pianist Davide Martello Calms Istanbul Tensions

The German pianist Davide Martello put himself and his grand piano at the center of the Taksim Square protest in Istanbul this week, with calming effects.Credit
Ed Ou for The New York Times

ISTANBUL — After days of being the target of tear gas and police water cannons, protesters in Gezi Park, in Taksim Square here, were tense on Wednesday night, girded for conflict. Instead they got a piano performance.

Davide Martello, a German musician in the new age, Paul Winter mold, arrived with a three-man team, hauling a grand piano in a trailer. After unloading the instrument and placing it inside the entry to the park, he began to play.

People stopped to listen. The restless crowd began to calm and organize around Mr. Martello. Soon photos and videos of the performance were zinging around the globe, ending up on blogs, online news sites and Facebook pages.

By the time Thursday night rolled round, word had gotten out, and according to estimates from those there, 1,500 people gathered in the park to hear this unknown 31-year-old pianist play again.

Video

A Peaceful Piano Protest

With his piano parked at Taksim Square in Istanbul, the pianist Davide Martello led protesters in a rendition of The Beatles’ ”Let It Be.”

Speaking during a pause in the performance, Mr. Martello explained that he was on a self-directed world tour, hoping to play in major cities across the globe. He had been in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Wednesday morning and wanted to stop by Istanbul to witness the protests, which started as an effort to save Gezi Park from destruction and morphed into a broader expression of dissatisfaction with the authoritarian tactics of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.